Brewed in Scotland since 2000 B.C. heather ale is probably the oldest style of ale still produced in the world. From an ancient Gaelic recipe for "leann fraoich" (heather ale) it has been revived and reintroduced to the Scottish culture. Into the boiling bree of malted barley, sweet gale and flowering heather are added, then after cooling slightly the hot ale is poured into a vat of fresh heather flowers where it infuses for an hour before being fermented.

Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by damndirtyape:

3.52/5 rDev -6.1%look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Single bottle (July 2010 date) poured into a nonic glass.

Appearance: Hazy golden yellow with a golden foam across the top (about 1/16" thick) that stayed the whole way down the glass. Some lacing noted. Plenty of fine tiny bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass.

Smell: Unfortunately I can't get much of anything off of this beer. A faint whiff of something floral and something sweet, but not much. As it warms up you get more of a honey-like malt, but it's still very faint.

Taste: For what it lacked in smell it makes up for in taste. Malt and honey up front followed by a floral taste and mild bitter finish. The malts linger on the tongue and aftertaste in a clean way.

Mouthfeel: Some spiciness on the tongue from the carbonation, then a nice coating of the throat on the way down.

Drinkability: Definitely something good to try out because of its uniqueness but not something I could drink all the time. A good experience beer.

More User Reviews:

I had heard about this ale,and saw it at the local specialty store.Was pleasantly suprised didnt like the smell but had a nice fresh flavor,never had a beer with that kinda flowery-like taste,best way I could describe it.

A: Gold with an orange hue and a light haze. Head was thin and filmy with a nice ring of white. Little to no lacing.

S: Light herbal flower aroma as you might expect, but I also had hints of what smelled like honey, cinnamon and nutmeg.

T: An interesting array of herbs and spices in a mostly dry taste. Clearly some sort of light or pale malt with relatively low sweetness giving it an interesting though complex lightness. I thought I could taste the heather more than I could smell it, which isn't a bad thing, in fact makes it interesting to try to pick out the flavors. The whole thing sort of reminds me of a fermented herbal tea. Kinda cool.

M&D: The body & mouthfeel for this is rather light with a dry finish. The linger is nice with some herbal bittering. Carbonation is tricky too as it doesn't appear to be very carbonated but the abundance of small bubbles seems to work well with the dry finish, accentuating it. This is a very different sort of brew but I really think I like it and would definitely have it again.

Something amazing sweet, yet aromatic. Must be a spice, but I wouldnt know where to begin. Taste will give me more, but with the no carbonation and sweet smell it would make me think a fermentation and bottle condition gone bad. Ill tell you though, that spice smell is wonderful. Im also getting butterscotch, which I forget is which yeast by product.

Nothing like the smell. Some bitter, light hop character. Little piney citrus. Sweet is there, though lots of light malt.

The carb is there thankfully, though the body is extremely light. Little body, like a pilsner, almost straw-ish. Hope its not corn.

While I find the style interesting, the delivery of the beer can only be rated as average. The best part being the interesting spice smell.

Not sure I would go back to this. It does have scottish appeal, but Im sure there are better offerrings available.

Presentation: 330ml brown bottle with a very Celtic style label. "Brewed in Scotland Since 2000" is stated several times on the front and back. Best before Feb 2001 is clearly marked.

Appearance: Rich golden in colour with a thin white froth for a lace.

Smell: Floral, herbal, sweet and nectar-like.

Taste: A flash of thin, sweet pale malts up-front that quickly dries with a herbal (tea-like) flavour from the heather. Leaves a wonderful after-taste. This ale also warms in the belly, slightly.

Notes: For its uniqueness, we highly recommend this ale. As a beer, it is remarkable, extremely drinkable and refreshing. "Fraoch" is Gaelic for Heather. This is one of the oldest ale styles brewed in history (from heather flowers and Scottish malt).

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 11.2oz or 330ml bottle into a pint glass. The back label has a very clear best before date (month and year) notched out. The date notched was Feb. 2010 and it was sampled on 6-10-09.

Appearance: It has a golden honey colored body with a lightly hazy appearance. There is not much of head, just a small light foamy covering that fades out to nothing quickly. There is no lacing to mention at all.

Smell: The aroma has an interesting full floral bouquet with some honey like sweetness, some light grain notes and fresh salty sea air.

Taste/Mouth: There is an odd dry grain with a hint of mineral flavor like sea air and a solid floral character throughout. Underneath there are some sweeter malt, honey and buttery notes that mix with the floral heather notes. The floral notes build up to the finish and add a pleasant bitterness and dryness to it. The palate is slick and smooth with light carbonation and a light to medium body.

Notes: This is a very interesting flavored beer with a very interesting history to the style of the beer.

Pours an almost clear, orange amber color, with a short-lived white head that leaves a delicate ring of lacing. Nose has a floral bouquet with sweet malts in the background. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied, crisp, and refreshing. Taste is, not surprisingly, unusual but quite pleasant. The heather bitters the toffee/caramel malt characters very well, resulting in a nicely balanced and very drinkable ale. If this is what the Scots drank 2,000 years ago, then they drank quite well.

Drinkability: I could have a six but this is an aquired taste. This is my favorite in the Scottish ales pack I have. This does have pronounced lavender notes as well as some other florals--and I like lavender so it is a plus.

Nose is floral and sweet, very pleasant. Notes of heather, berry and honey.

Initially sweet with notes of heather and honey, but finishes with a malty, peaty bite. Very satisfying. A touch of grassiness and apple to the finish as well. Interesting to taste a brew without any hop character...

Medium body, lower carbonation. Similar mouthfeel to a barleywine.

A great brew; unique and enjoyable. I can certainly detect a uniquely Scottish character to Fraoch. Although it will likely be a while, I'm looking forward to having it again. A must try!

Appearance - beer pours a cloudy amber colour with about one finger of head. The head is a nice fluffy white in appearance with several air pockets. Appears to be some decent lacing. The carbonation levels are hard to tell, but you can find small streams.

Smell - I found the smell to be very clean and direct. There are earthy tones that dominate this smell as well a slight hop base. You can pick up sweet hints, not 100% sure where they are generated from.

Taste - Like the smell, very clean and crisp taste to the beer. There earthy tones are picked up right away. There is not much aftertaste either, overall clean.

Mouthfeel - decent carbonation levels add to the grass/earthy tones. Not much different than the taste, just clean and straight forward.

Drinkability - Clean tasting crisp beer. There is not anything more to it so no point in going looking for it. Enjoyed it, good way to end my night.